Protocol (Ilidza Ceasefire)

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Country/entity: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Yugoslavia (former)
Region: Europe and Eurasia
Agreement name: Protocol (Ilidza Ceasefire)
Date: 23 Apr 1992
Agreement status: Multiparty signed/agreed
Interim arrangement: Yes
Agreement/conflict level: Intrastate/local conflict
Balkan Conflicts (1991 - 1995) (1998 - 2001)
Former Yugoslavia

The disintegration of former Yugoslavia post cold war saw conflicts which became mediated and produced peace agreements in Slovenia (where the brief independence conflict was mediated by the EC Troika in 1991), Croatia (between Croatian and Serb populations 1991-1995), in Bosnia (between Croatian, Serb and Bosniak populations 1992-1995), in Macedonia (where mediation played a key pre-emptive role in preventing large scale conflict in 2001), in Kosovo (between Kosovar Albanians and Serbian population and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), but also between FRY and NATO, 1998-1999), and a conflict in the Presevo Valley (between Albanians in South Serbia and FRY, 2000-2001). The continued fall-out of the disintegration of former Yugoslavia also saw mediated agreement and ultimate dissolution of the Union between Serbia and Montenegro.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

In 1991, after nationalist parties won the first multi-party elections in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a violent process of disintegration commenced. With its mixed population, Bosnia-Herzegovina became the centre of the following civil war that began in 1992 between the newly formed army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (mostly Muslim Bosniacs), and the parastatal forces of self-declared Bosnian Croat (Herzeg-Bosnia) and Bosnian Serb (Republika Srpska) entities within Bosnia-Herzegovina, supported by Croatia and Serbia, with various, often short-lived, coalitions. The General Framework Agreement (Dayton Peace Agreement), signed in 1995, split the country into two ethno-federal entities, the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Republika Srpska, and included continued peacekeeping and institutional administration by international actors.

Kosovo

The conflict between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians has a long history and always involved territorial disputes as well as ethno-political, cultural and linguistic factors. The most recent phase of the conflict began in November 1997 when the Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA or UCK) began their campaign for the independence of Kosovo from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY – then Serbia and Montenegro). The subsequent war lasted until the NATO intervention, which undertook bombing campaigns of Belgrade and other places in Serbia during spring 1999. The main agreements solving the conflict were internationally driven and, finally, a UNSC resolution imposed a post-conflict arrangement in the wake of what was essentially a NATO military victory. In February 2008, Kosovo’s parliament declared independence, but independence is still internationally disputed.
Stage: Ceasefire/related
Conflict nature: Government/territory
Peace process: Bosnia peace process
Parties: SDS Representative, Nedjeljko PRSTOJEVIC; SDA Representative, [Sefer] HALILOVIC
Third parties: European Community representative, T.W. MICHELS
Description: This short ceasefire agreement guarantees that there will be no military operations until 2400 hours on 24 April 1992.

Agreement document: BA_920423_Protocol (Ilidza ceasefire).pdf (opens in new tab) | Download PDF

Local agreement properties

Process type: Isolated example
Rationale: Although there was an existing, formal peace process at the national level, this agreement appears to have been brokered on an ad-hoc basis to respond to an outbreak of localised violence in a previously peaceful part of the city.
Is there a documented link to a national peace process?: Yes
Link to national process: articulated rationale: Although the agreement text itself does not mention the national process, an account by an ECMM monitor Colm Doyle suggests that the EC were concerned that the fighting risked derailing the national ceasefire agreement the European Community were trying to reach, due to Lord Carrington's imminent arrival via the airport - which was next to the area where the outbreak of fighting was taking place.
Name of Locale: Ilidza
Nature of Locale: Smaller
GPS Lat/Long (DD): 43.827023, 18.304901
Participant type: Local armed group
International or transnational actor
Mediator, facilitator or similar: Mediator or similar referred to
Mediator (references): Agreement signed by T.W. Michels on behalf of the European Community, who is believed to be an ECMM monitor according to secondary sources. Secondary reports describe the ECMM as the organisation who arranged the meeting.
Type of mediator/facilitator/similar: International or transnational actor

Local issues

Ritual/prayer and process (including use of scripture): No specific mention.
Grievance List: No specific mention.
Cattle rustling/banditry: No specific mention.
Social cover: No specific mention.

Protocol drawn up on 23 April 1992

Representatives of the SDS /Serbian Democratic Party/ and the SDA /Party of Democratic Action/ of Ilidza, at a meeting on 23 April 1992 under the auspices of the EC /European Community/, guarantee that there will be no military operations until 2400 hours on 24 April 1992.

This is guaranteed by both parties and hereby confirmed with their signatures.

SDS Representative

Nedjeljko PRSTOJEVIC

/a signature/

T. W. /MICHELS/

SDA Representative

/illegible/ HALILOVIC

/a signature/